This blog is all about the work that will be produced by some of the young people from Upstart. Tom Sizeland and I, Refilwe Mpshe work in partnership with these young people in producing radio shows for Rhodes Music Radio as part of our fourth year radio course.

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Thursday, August 4, 2011

Tom and I have come to the end of our time with Upstart on Radio. Our final meeting with Upstart Project Manager Shireen Badat and Rhodes Music Radio Station Manager Gugulethu Mahlangu left me feeling disappointed after all the work we have all put into the project. There is hope yet for this project but the sentiment was that the project has not managed to necessarily establish a workable and sustainable model for Upstart to be on radio. This is due to a few factors, but all may not be lost so bear with me as I take you through our debriefing session.

Friday turned out better than I expected. I was in the Radio section of the Journalism Department at Rhodes University waiting for the Upstarters at 2.30pm as usual. They came in, one, two, three, four, five. I nearly got up from my seat to do a victory dance! All five of them had arrived for the first time in weeks. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog posts, you may be expecting there to be six members, but my colleague Tom and I heard from Shireen, Upstarts project manager, earlier in the week that our sixth member now has other commitments and can no longer attend. I’m happy to do a victory dance for five committed Upstarters.

Simakhele chatting to his guest

We spent Friday’s session preparing the Upstarters for the first two interviews that would be happening the next day. Bathabile and Aphiwe were scheduled to arrive with questions that they would be asking their interviewees the very next day. Aphiwe was scheduled to interview Shireen but she had indicated to him that she would be unavailable on Saturday at the time of the interview. So Simamkhele offered to do his interview.

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About Me

The media is so important in South Africa right now and it's a huge responisbilty to be part of it but I'm enjoying the experience. I am an introvert with extreme extroverted tendencies. I am all about working with people, loving them and telling their stories. If I have the power to change someone's life, I'm willing to do it. Fundamentally, I am loved by Jesus Christ.